Modification by Experience 245 



when the latter comes to be performed at once, the con- 

 sciousness accompanying must be wholly pleasant. Further, k 

 the puzzle-box experiments differ from the labyrinth ex- \ 

 periments in that the successful movement is not merely 

 turning in one direction rather than another, a habit which 

 might ultimately become perfectly independent of external 

 stimuli; but a reaction upon a particular object. It is 

 evident that in the course of learning, this object, at the 

 outset unnoticed, must come to stand in the centre of the 

 animal's consciousness, the focus of its attention, as soon 

 as it is perceived at all. Such a change would constitute 

 another feature of the consciousness accompanying this 

 form of learning, in addition to the diminishing unpleasant- 

 ness which goes along with the dropping off of unnecessary 

 movements. A special aspect of experiments on imitation 

 is connected with this process of learning to focus attention 

 on ike proper object. Can an animal have his attention 

 " called" to the object by watching some one else operating 

 on it, or must the object gain its power to determine reaction 

 solely by the animal's own experience of the consequences 

 connected with it? Hobhouse's experiments on dogs, cats, 

 and other animal subjects led him to the conclusion that \ 

 watching his performance did materially assist the animal \ 

 in this respect. His method was to perform the action of 

 pulling a lever or string repeatedly while the animal was 

 watching; and that this process facilitated learning he 

 thinks evident from the fact that after it had been several 

 times repeated, the behavior of the animal changed in a 

 marked degree; instead of being random, it was definitely 

 directed at the proper object. The suddenness of the transi- 

 tion from random to definite behavior indicates, in Hobhouse's 

 opinion, the effect of being shown. Thus, for example, 

 his dog Jack "after being once shown, . . . learnt to pull 



